College Confidential’s “Dean,” Sally Rubenstone, put together 25 of her best tips. Get your free copy of the "25 Tips from the Dean" eBook and get helpful advice on how to choose a college, get in, and pay for it: http://goo.gl/9zDJTM

AlcoholEdu

I was just wondering if I'm the only one who finds this thing incredibly obnoxious?

I'm an incoming transfer this semester, and I'm required to take it before I can complete registration. I have been sitting here for the past 5 hours trying to get through it. It doesn't let me fastforward and every time I turn the sound down, it turns back up automatically. Not only this, but I'm finding it to be full of propaganda and scare tactics.

I realize the significance of alcohol education. I think it's very important, but I strongly believe that this program is not going to be effective due to it's excessive length and inability to relate to students.

In fact, after spending the entire afternoon on alcoholedu, all I can think about is getting a cold beer.

Oh yes, it was definitely obnoxious and annoying. I'm really glad we didn't have to finish the thing to register, that would've been a *****. They deliberately made it vague for us as to whether or not it was required that we did it, to make us do it, but once everyone found out it didn't do anything to your schedule, etc. no one finished it, lol.

Most recent studies show that about 23% of American college students drink in a high-risk way three or more times in a typical two-week period – a 20% increase since the mid-‘90s – and about 55% of students either drink in a high-risk manner infrequently or never have more than four or five drinks per occasion. The other 20% of students choose not to drink. Just as the percentage of frequent high-risk drinkers has increased over the years, so has the proportion of non-drinkers – by almost 20%.

# 20% of students at American colleges choose not to drink.

# At a low range of BAC concentrations – 0.01-0.05 – alcohol produces significant changes in how a person think, act, and feel. While alcohol mainly slows down brain activity, many people actually report feeling a little energized, or stimulated, after a drink or two, at least for a short period of time.

# Underage students tend to drink less often than students who can drink legally, but they also tend to drink more heavily when they do drink. Athletes tend to drink more heavily than non-athletes, and when athletes are team leaders or members of Greek organizations, the levels are even higher. Members of Greek letter organizations – both for men and women – are more likely to drink and to drink heavily than students who are not Greek.

# The hippocampus is particularly important for forming new memories of events. Alcohol severely impairs the functions of the hippocampus at high doses, and that effect is what seems to cause alcohol-induced blackouts. In one study, around 45% of the 800 or so students surveyed at a major university reported that they had experienced a blackout at some point in their lives.

# GHB and Rohypnol (known as date rape drugs) when combined with alcohol, can cause severe sedation and amnesia, making an individual incredibly vulnerable to sexual assault. These drugs can also cause unconsciousness and death, especially when they’re taken in combination with alcohol.

# For most people, it usually only takes a drink or two before alcohol starts interfering with their ability to learn new information. While the impairments produced at relatively low BAC levels are generally subtle, they do occur and could have a negative impact on someone’s academic performance. Learning is also strongly influenced by what is going on in a person’s life at that time – two different people studying the same material will learn slightly different things because they bring different knowledge, feelings, and history to the learning experience. Lastly, even if you’re not drinking, your studying may have been disrupted from other people’s behavior when they’ve consumed alcohol.

# Recent studies show that about 23% of American college students drink in a high-risk way three or more times in a typical two-week period.

# Sexual assault, with or without alcohol, is a violent crime. The consumption of alcohol by either or both parties does not change the nature of the crime, make the person who committed the assault less accountable, or result in lighter penalties. The person who experienced the crime is not responsible for what happened. Even if a person is unable to say no, leave, or resist does not mean that they are giving, or implying, consent to having sex. Silence does not mean consent. The higher the BAC, the less able someone is to determine whether they want, or will accept, sexual advances or to express their decisions clearly.

# The frontal lobes play a vital role in certain key functions, including impulse control, decision-making, planning, and memory formation, and milder forms of alcohol-induced learning impairments are probably due to alcohol’s effects in the frontal lobes. A part of the brain that plays a big role in learning is the hippocampus, a structure located underneath the temporal lobes. The hippocampus is particularly important for forming new memories of events.

# One recent study found that young adults who were long-term heavy drinkers as adolescents had smaller hippocampi than those who did not abuse alcohol. This damage might help explain another finding – teenagers with a long-term pattern of seriously heavy drinking exhibit cognitive impairments (evidence of trouble thinking, processing information, and solving problems) for at least three weeks after their last drink.

# How high a person's BAC gets and how quickly it rises, can be influenced by a number of factors including: weight, sex, absorption (or how quickly the alcohol gets in), and elimination (or how quickly the body gets the alcohol out). Weight is a big factor in determining how high BAC climbs after each drink. The less you weigh, the higher the BAC will get after consuming any given amount of alcohol.

# Underage students tend to drink less often than students who can drink legally, but they also tend to drink more heavily when they do drink. Athletes tend to drink more heavily than non-athletes, and when athletes are team leaders or members of Greek organizations, the levels are even higher. Members of Greek letter organizations – both for men and women – are more likely to drink and to drink heavily than students who are not Greek.

# A “blackout” is not being able to form new memories because of a high BAC, and therefore not being able to remember anything about what happened during that time. When people experience a blackout, they are conscious – still able to have conversations, walk around, and even accomplish fairly complicated behaviors – but memory formation will not occur. Blackouts can occur at BAC levels of 0.10-0.15%.

# Ninety percent of rapes at college involve alcohol use by the person who committed the sexual assault, the person who experienced the sexual assault, or both.

# Not only do alcohol ads intentionally target underage drinkers, underage drinkers make up a sizeable chunk of the alcohol market. They drink almost 20% of all of the alcohol consumed each year in the U.S.

# In one study, it was found that students were really consuming 53% more alcohol than they realized when they were drinking wine, and 92% more alcohol than they realized when they were having mixed drinks.

# For most people, it usually only takes a drink or two before alcohol starts interfering with their ability to learn new information. While the impairments produced at relatively low BAC levels are generally subtle, they do occur and could have a negative impact on someone’s academic performance.

# At least 50% of all sexual assaults at college, including rapes, involve alcohol use by the person who committed the sexual assault, the person who experienced the sexual assault, or both.

# A person's body gets rid of alcohol primarily by using enzymes created by the liver that process alcohol at a rate of around 0.015% per hour.

# How high a person's BAC gets and how quickly it rises, can be influenced by a number of factors including: weight, sex, absorption (or how quickly the alcohol gets in), and elimination (or how quickly the body gets the alcohol out). Weight is a big factor in determining how high BAC climbs after each drink. The less you weigh, the higher the BAC will get after consuming any given amount of alcohol.

# One recent study found that young adults who were long-term heavy drinkers as adolescents had smaller hippocampi than those who did not abuse alcohol. This damage might help explain another finding – teenagers with a long-term pattern of seriously heavy drinking exhibit cognitive impairments (evidence of trouble thinking, processing information, and solving problems) for at least three weeks after their last drink.

# Sexual assault, with or without alcohol, is a violent crime. The consumption of alcohol by either or both parties does not change the nature of the crime, make the person who committed the assault less accountable, or result in lighter penalties. The person who experienced the crime is not responsible for what happened. Even if a person is unable to say no, leave, or resist does not mean that they are giving, or implying, consent to having sex. Silence does not mean consent. The higher the BAC, the less able someone is to determine whether they want, or will accept, sexual advances or to express their decisions clearly.

# A “blackout” is not being able to form new memories because of a high BAC, and therefore not being able to remember anything about what happened during that time. When people experience a blackout, they are conscious – still able to have conversations, walk around, and even accomplish fairly complicated behaviors – but memory formation will not occur. Blackouts can occur at BAC levels of 0.10-0.15%.

# Underage students tend to drink less often than students who can drink legally, but they also tend to drink more heavily when they do drink. Athletes tend to drink more heavily than non-athletes, and when athletes are team leaders or members of Greek organizations, the levels are even higher. Members of Greek letter organizations – both for men and women – are more likely to drink and to drink heavily than students who are not Greek.

Helpful Links

About College Confidential

Welcome to the leading college-bound community on the Web!

Here you'll find hundreds of pages of articles about choosing a college, getting into the college you want, how to pay for it, and much more. You'll also find the Web's busiest discussion community related to college admissions, and our CampusVibe section!About Us